Eleven thefts carried out in Greece every hour

Every hour, eleven thefts are carried out in Greece and every two days - a murder, as shown by the statistics of Greek police on crime rates in 2011. Compared with 2010, thefts in private homes across the country have jumped by 111%. Their total number reached 912 in the last year, which is twice as many given the 432 thefts in 2010.
An increase in commercial sites is observed, but at a slower pace. There, thefts have jumped by 35.6% and from 472 thefts in shops in 2010 the number reached 640 in 2011. In commercial sites, the most serious is the situation in petrol stations where thefts have jumped by 72.5%. Theft and breaking into homes are most intense in the region of Attica,
where the increase is 125%. Thefts in commercial sites in the capital area have jumped by 51%. The total increase in thefts in 2011 compared to the previous year is 10% and the majority of the captured criminals are not Greek nationals. 547 criminal organizations have been broken up and almost half of them have dealt mainly with theft and abuse of other persons’ property. The main activity of another 140 criminal groups revealed was drugs trading and 56 groups were dealing with fraud and human trafficking. In 2011 the following were seized: 12.4 tons of cannabis, 287 kg of heroin, 27.5 kg of cocaine and more than 1,730 illegal firearms.
The press office of the Ministry of Citizens Protection emphasizes that despite the increases, crime rates remain around the European Union average. For all detected crimes, 184,920 people were arrested last year. European arrest warrants had been issued for about 240 of them for various criminal acts. The most common arrests were related to illegal border crossings in the country. The most serious is the situation of the northeast border of Greece, where over 54,000 illegal immigrants were arrested. This is followed by the arrests on the basis of judgments issued, followed by those for theft and drug dealing. According to police data, almost 6,000 marches, meetings and protests took place in 2011 and more than 120,000 police officers were needed to guard them. In addition, there were about 4,000 sports events that needed over 132,000 police officers, who made 394 arrests for hooliganism. There were 1,090 victims of road accidents in 2011 and in the last 10 years, the trend of this type of incidents has been decreasing. Apparently, the Greeks have become more responsible drivers, because in 2001, victims on the road exceeded 2,000 while in 2011, their number dropped by half.